Praxis: Spam Can Nostalgia
David Higginbotham is seized with a fit of nostalgia: "Where have all the Spam Cans Gone?" This is mysterious to me for only someone who has NOT opened many spam cans -- and slashed his/her hands on the metal -- could pine for them with sincerity.
Also, as I have written before, spam cans are all very well for long term storage (especially if you leave them in their original crates) but they are NOT TACTICAL.
Tool of the Evil Communist Conspiracy to raise the blood pressure, break the knuckles and cut the flesh of Imperialist Yankee Running Dogs.
As I wrote back in 2009:
I hate spam cans. I must have opened hundreds, maybe a thousand, in my life and I hated each and every one of them. They are heavy, bulky, have no ready handle to tote them by, are hard to open in the daylight with a special tool and impossible at night.
Personally, I think it not impossible that the continued sale of ammo by the Russians to American gun owners may be part of a clever plot to maim us and kill us with tetanus. ;-)
If Higginbotham's larger point is that he misses the cheap surplus ammo that we had available to us in 90s, then I certainly share his nostalgia. But I do NOT miss spam cans.
10 comments:
An extremely easy way to open spam cans if you have access to a milling machine is to clamp them in the vice and then mill off the metal seams.
Most of that ammo has been shot off at Knob Creek , or "cashed" in the woods and left to rust & ruin. Its being used as door stops in basements. Its gone. The "good" surplus ammo stoped comeing in when Buba blowjob got pissed at NORINCO in the 90s.Best to get your ammo now.There may not be a "later".
Anyone know of a good place to get an opener for one of those? I recently got gifted a can, but no tool.
Really stupid question of me, Mike, but can't you use a can opener on them, or is the lip too deep for the cutting wheel to reach the lid?
It's not tactical, but the welder in me once told me to use a thin cutting wheel and a grinder.
Works well if you're very careful.
The BIG mistake was stopping the importation of Chinese ammo - the good capitalist concept of having two comblock nations competing to supply a product at the best price disappeared then.
The Chinese would still under-cut the 'new' capitalist Russians if allowed to!
I remember crates of Chicom 7.62x39 steel core (1440 rounds) selling for $100. I shot up some of it. What happened to the rest? Is it still out there waiting to be "applied as needed"?
wildbill
Wildbill asks, "I remember crates of Chicom 7.62x39 steel core (1440 rounds) selling for $100."
Then Wildbill asks, "Is it still out there waiting to be "applied as needed"?
Yes.
I used an air chisel on a spam can of 7.62x54R and it worked well, moved it into a 50 cal can. Seems to be plenty of clearance that there was no sign of contact with the wrapped ammo inside.
Some people opened the cans immediately for inspection and transferred the contents to easy-open US .30 cal cans.
Sitting on a plastic-covered pallet in the 59 degree windowless basement ever since. When the Powerball money comes in, we might add a pallet of magazines and a pallet of oil/cleaning kits. If I find a winner on the ground.
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